"A Wealth Tax doesn’t work. It may generate a modicum of income for the state, but the cost will be greater as the wealthy move overseas. The Laffer Curve shows that."

This is the argument put forward by representatives of the British Establishment – be they political commentators, corporate lobbyists, elected politicians or somewhere in that revolving door – in response to calls from those of us on the economic left.

This rebuttal largely goes unchallenged by the national media, yet it has at its heart a number of misleading premises.

The first is that wealth creation ceases when the wealthy leave. This stems from the myth that the ruling class create wealth through their ingenuity and risk-taking, as opposed to all financial wealth originating from human labour. It would therefore take a mass exodus or nationwide risk to life for wealth creation in a country to cease – we need only look at the hit private profit would have taken during the pandemic had the state not stepped in to shore it up to see the primacy of human labour evidenced.

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The second is that existing wealth itself is mobile and can "leave" with the wealthy. Some wealth is, of course, mobile, in the form of fine art, precious gems, other luxury items and the king of capital; cash, which is........

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